Packaging unit



April 20, 1965 o. H. RosKAM 3,1 79,2 75

HCKAGING UNIT Filed April 9, 1962 rig' lNvENToR nine' United States Patent O P V 3,179,275 PACKAGING UNIT Oliver H. Roskam, Rte. 4, Parkville, Mo. Filed Apr. 9, 1962, Ser. No. 186,078

i 1 Claim. (Cl. 215-6) This invention relates to a packaging unit, and more particularly, to such a -unit Wherein a supplemental package of material may be Secured to and carried by a primary container.

It is the most important object of this invention to provide a packaging unit which may be used in the merchandising of premium itemsand the like Which are normally sold in conjunction With a primary article of merchandise Wherein the premium item is contained in its own package, Which package may be Secured to the container for the primary article of merchandise without detracting from the appearance of S'uch'primary container or presenting any undesirable appendages thereto.

A yet further lobject of this invention is to provide a packaging unit Wherein the primary container is provided With an indentation therein at an appropriate and accessible location and Which indentation receives the Supplemental package of material therein, the unit also including means to retain Isaid Supplemental package Within said indentation.

Another object is to provide a backing or retaining -member for holding the Supplemental package in position,

Which member may be in the form of a strip of adhesive material or the like, or which, in the particular form chosen for illustration, may be in the form of a backing member having a central portion Secured to the supplemental package and a peripheral portion Secured to the primary container.

A still further aim of this invention is to provide a packaging uni-t for combining a secondary package With li Patenteti Apr. 2G, l965 ICC tion of the primary container is not altered or changed, and such containers may still be stacked, stored and Shipped in their usual manner notwithstanding the presence of the secondary package.

In the preferred form of the invention chosen for illustration, a primary container 10 such as a bottle, jar or the like, is provided With a closure 12 Which takes the form of a conventional lid having a planar, central surface 14 and a depending skirt 16, Which Sk-irt is internally threaded Whereby the closure 12 may be threaded onto the neck of the primary container 19. It will be appreciated that the particular form of container or package may vary and that the form herein referred to is chosen merely for purposes of illustration.

In said embodiment the planar surface 14 of closure 12 is provided with a centrally disposed indentation 18, Which indentation is congured compiementally With the secondary package of material 29 which is to be received therein. Here again, in the embodiment chosen for illustration, the indentat-ion 13 is of a fear-drop configuration and the secondary package of material is of a like configuration having an outer over-all dimension Slightly smaller than the internal dimension of indentation 18.

The Secondary package of material 29 is Secured to a backing member 22, Which member 22 has a central portion 24 and a peripheral portion 26, there being a line of Weakness 28 Separating said central portion 24 from said peripheral portion 26.

Preferably, the backing member 22 is of the same plan configuration as the surface 14 whereby the member 22 may overlie surface 14 and present a neat and attractive appearance.

a primary container in such a manner that the secondary i package is easily and quickly removab-le from the packaging unit by virtue of the construction of the backing member which carries the secondary package of premium merchandisc.

Other objects include details of construction Which will become apparent from the following Specification and accompanying drawing, Wherein:

FIGURE l is a perspective view of the packaging unit, the primary container being fragmentarily shown;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view similar to FIG; 1 and showing the secondary package and i-ts backing member removed from the primary container;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, Sectional view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 1; and i FiG. 4 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 1 butshowing a modified form of the invention.

It is We-ll known that modern merchandisingv procedures, in many instances, involve presenting to the consumer a supplemental or extra package of merchand-ise inaddition V to the manufacturefs primary product, Which supplemental merchandise is known as a premium item, and

i Which is generally advertised as being sold free if the Without obliteratingor blocking off thela-bel .of the.

primary container, and Without presenting an unnecessary appendage thereto. Furthermore-the over-all configura- Such premium items take various forms In the embodiment chosen for illustration, the secondary package of material 24) ltakes the form of a plastic bubble having a laterally extendiug, continuous flange 3G, Which flange il is Secured to the face 32 of backing member 22 next adjacent the planar surface 14.V The line of Weakness 28 circumscribes flange Stl whereby the secondary package of material is attached in its eutirety to the central portion 24 of backing member 22.

It Will be appreciated that secondary package 20 may be of any desired configuration and that the indentation 18 provided in surface 14 can likewise be of any desired configuration so long as the same is of -sufficient Size and proper shape to receive substantially entirely Within the conines thereof, the secondary package 20. Furthermore, the indentation 18 can be provided at any location in a container, particularly metal containers, and is not restricted necessarily to the closure therefor.

In the drawings, the secondary package 2% is shown as containing a number of garden Seeds 34 Which are a Widely used premium item in connection With merchandise i sold through supermarkets, drug stores and the like.

i Within the indentation 18.

the secondary package 2G, the customer may merely place package Ztl is attached, is not Secured to the Surfacev 14V Thus, to form the packaging unit, the secondary package 29 is Suitably Secured, by means of fiange 30, to the backing member 22 and the backing member 22 is coated on the face 32 of peripheral portion V26 With a Suitable adhesive -whereby, When the member 22 -iS brought into engagement With surface 14, the peripheral portion 26 Will be Secured to thea-rea of surface 14 immediately surrounding in-dentation 18. Thus, the backing member iS Secured to the closure* 12 With the peripheral portion attached to the surface 14- and the Secondary package 2% disposed When it is desired to remove his thumb along the line of vweakness 28 and thereby separate central portion 24- from adjoining peripheral portion 26 of backing member 22, Said centralportion 24 carrying With it the secondary package 2G, which package v39 v but is merely attached tor'peripheral portion 26 through linel of Weakness 28.

In the modified form of the invention illustrated in FIG. 4, the central portion 24 is provided With a tab 3 which is uti-lized to remove central portion 24 and the package 20 carried thereby from -the Packaging unit. In this regard, the line of weakness 218 is disposed in such a manner as to out-line tabA 36, whereby the tab may be easily lifted upwardly by the customer and thereby utilized to remove the secondary package 20 from the lunit.

The subject invention may take yet another form Wherein the backng member 22 Would be replaced by a strip, disc or other suitable shape of material having a peripheral por-tion of one face thereof coated With an adhesive Whereby the material could be utilized as a closure for lthe open top of indentation 18.' In this form, the secondary package 20 Would merely ybe placed loosely Within indentation 18 and the piece of material adhesively secured to surface 14 VWhereby to close the open top of -inden-tat-ion 18 and retain the package 20 therein, the -latiter -being accessible upon removal of the strip of material but not being ISecured directly to the strip as shown in the form chosen for illustration.

It Will be appreciated that the instant invention may take many various forms, depending upon the size, shape, configuration and material from Whichthe primary container is made, but that in any form, it Will allow the creation of a packaging unit Which includes both the primary container and lthe secondary package as a neat,

' attractive, uncluttered ypackage presentable for satisfactory merchandising.

Having thus ydescribed the nvention, 'What is claimed as new and desired -to be Secured by Letters Patent is:

A packaging unit comprising a container closure having a planar surface, there-being an indentation formed in said surface at substantia-lly the center thereof; a selfcontained package of material disposed Within Lthe confines of said indentatiom'the shape of said package confcrming to the configuration of said-indentation; and a acking member disposed in o-verlying relation to said closure and -conforming to the configuration thereof, said member having a central portion Secured to said package and -overlying said indentation and a peripheral portion Secured to said planar surface, said portions being interconnected 1by a line of Weakness Whereby said central portion and thereby said package may be removed from the unit Vsaid package consistin-g of a plastic bubble Secured to the face of said central portion applied to said in-dentation.

References -Cited hy the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,824501-0 2/58 Pedersen 206-47 2,963,194 i 12/60 Brennan et al kg. 206-47 2361496 12/60 Serdar 220-23 VFRANr/:Lrv r. GARRE'TT, Primary Examina.

EARLE J. DRUMMOND, Examner. 

